Turkey stuffing that jingles

Schools get creative in collecting coin

With discretionary funds in school budgets going the way of the dodo, educators have had to get creative with fundraising for the little things. Like books.

When the Santee School District Foundation launched its Stuff the Turkey event in November to raise money for books, all nine of the district schools really went cuckoo. Students, parents and teachers alike began donating their spare pocket change like it was so much chicken feed.

The inaugural fundraiser raised nearly 2,550 pounds of coins totaling $7,233. All proceeds will be divvied up among the schools to purchase books of their choosing.

At the school board meeting on Tuesday, two campuses were recognized as winners of “Stuff the Turkey” for bringing in the most coin. Chet F. Harritt School, collected 432 pounds of coins and Cajon Park School 501 pounds.

“They did an amazing job,” said Terry Johnson, chair of Stuff the Turkey and a language arts specialist at Rio Seco School. “It was well beyond our expectations.”

Foundation president Mike Clinkenbeard, came up with the idea for Stuff the Turkey based on a fundraiser the Cajon Valley Union School District has called Feed the Pig. For Stuff the Turkey, each school was issued a gobbler — a five-gallon water bottle that students could decorate any fowl way they saw fit — and each classroom had feed boxes for the kids to dump coins into.

Once a week, the contents of the boxes were stuffed into the water bottle turkeys prominently perched in their school’s office. For every five pounds of coins donated, the turkeys were given feathers.

Some campuses held competitions between the grade levels to see who could raise the most money. Pepper Drive School Principal Debbie Brenner began each day by inviting her classes to go to the office and “feed Henrietta,” the school’s turkey. Cajon Park Principal Ted Hooks, upon hearing his school was one of the winners, dressed up as a turkey and visited each classroom.

For their efforts, the students of the two winning schools will be rewarded with root beer floats all around. Johnson said she hopes Stuff the Turkey will become an annual fundraiser.